Both have been accused of manipulating democratic institutions to extend their own rule, perhaps for life, of mortgaging the futures of the people they lead for their personal enrichment.

Both are under investigation by the French police for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars in public funds (i.e., oil revenue) to buy property in France.

Little wonder so many internautes think Sarkozy’s willingness to turn a blind eye to dictatorship and corruption has something to do with coveting the millions of barrels of oil in Gabon and Congo.

In Congo-Brazzaville and the diaspora, people are sick of France’s willful complicity in the story of African despotism.

Here I translate some excerpts from Vous reprendrez bien un peu d'humanisme?, who lampoons Sassou-Nguesso's recent visit to France in series of blog posts and cartoons, and comments left by readers of Mwinda.org, a participatory Congolese news website.

Serious doubt has been cast on the governance, ethics, and honesty of the President of the Republic of the Congo at the international level (RICO in the United States or the Surive and Sherpa case in Paris).

The last legislative elections in the Congo showed, as the observations of numerous independent sources attest. As a French, I can testify to the transparency of our elections in France that brought you into the office you occupy today and that allowed the election of our deputies without any suspicions of irregularity.
The legislative elections were a major sticking point.

Mr. Sarkozy, you were elected in a transparent election that shows France is a true democracy. Don’t you believe it is time that France stop giving our African leaders glowing reports solely so [France] can leisurely suck up the Congolese people’s oil?

How much longer do we have to wait before a President of the French Republic, fatherland of human rights, ends its hypocrisy vis-à-vis Francophone Africa [that has persisted] since independence? Have the people of Francophone Africa not paid enough of their black blood for our European comfort? Don’t they also have a right to true democracy?

Not the facade of democracy that serves as an easy justification for sending back undesirable Africans to their countries where they have no future.

No, a democracy with a respect for rules, one that cannot be put in doubt.

To remind you : “We must create the conditions for a responsible, adult relationship free of complexes, in the open air, under the watch of everyone…this vital dialogue and partnership must be part of an equal exchange between sovereign and allied nations, tied together by a special bond,” continued [Sarkozy], declaring that relations with Africa would be a “priority” of his international policy, if he is elected next year…”We should understand that development aid can be a boon for bad governance and predatory regimes. So we can no longer tolerate the misuses of funds that aid often enables.” (source: le figaro)

…You who live in France, dear compatriots, by every means possible make the message about the elections outrage, the embezzlement of funds, the kleptocracy of the regime, the financial crimes and misdemeanors reach the French media, and if possible the office of l’Elysee

Some among us told me that they (l’elysee and the other doctors of misery in the Congo) know, that’s must be true because a lot of the fruits of the embezzled money are eaten in France…

The reality is that France is a tiny country on the international stage and that it has always benefited from the support if its former colonies to present itself as a major player at the heart of the UN.

Sarkozy, who trumpeted a break with the past, is reduced to receiving a man implicated in an investigation for crimes against humanity, a man who made hooligans burn the French flag in buses before the French embassy in Brazzaville in coordination with certain members of government.

In less than six months before coming into power, Sarkozy has received both Bongo and Sassou, the two biggest scoundrels in Africa.

By chosing to inaugurate his term with as incestuous a meeting as Sassou, not to mention Bongo, Mr. Sarkozy seems to have chosen not to help Africa affirm its democratic and humanist values that elevate people, but to work to confirm the underhanded foreign policy inherited from his predecessors.

France is known for supporting, and therefore validating, the victory of African dictators after rigged elections, for the history of France has never been one of ruptures but of continuities.

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5 comments

Actually I have made a mistake in my fake. Banania is a character from an Emile Ajar’s novel (“La vie devant soi”). Emile Ajar was a Romain Gary’s pseudo. The truth was discovered after his suicide. I apologize for my weak english. ;-)

[…] still reverberating through the francophone blogosphere. From his policy on illegal immigration to his apparent friendliness with African dictators to his controversial statements about French minorities, Sarkozy seems to draw passionate reactions […]

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